I Will Come to You
by Jasmine Shigeru
Summary: 4 of 15. Vash's mind while he's traveling to see the Insurance Girls and visiting an old friend.
1. Part 1

Title: I Will Come to You

Author: Jasmine Shigeru

Pairing: V/MS

Summary: This is part 4 of the series. Vash's mind while he's traveling to see the Insurance Girls.

Author Note: I accidently skipped it. So, please read this, then "Thinking of You"

Disclaimer: I do not own Trigun nor do I wish I do. This is just for my entertainment and whoever wishes to read it. I am not making any profit from this and do not care to for that matter.

Rating: around K+ to T (I guess)

I Will Come to You

Part One (Vash's POV)

By the second week of my travels, I was bored. There was nothing thrilling in my life since I had stopped Knives. No one was chasing me and I have yet to reach a town. There was absolutely nothing for me to at the moment. In fact, if I didn't have an excellent since of the time passing, I would have thought I was traveling more than a week.

It felt like months and I was lonely on my own. I have felt depressed over my loneliness before, but never like this. Never had I had friends or travel companions like the ones I have a few years ago.

I sigh. I did not need to think about that now, because if I thought about my loneliness, the longer it would feel to take to get to the Girls. At least, that is what I thought the second week. Then a third week passed and then a forth.

I had been away from Knives for a month and I was actually considering turning back. My loneliness was heavily over my shoulders and my walking had begun to become noticeably slower. I was torturing myself, trying to find friends that had either moved on or had died.

So, you could imagine my relief and disappointment when I came to town lost in the vast desert. I was relieved at the prospect of have an actual bed to sleep in and shelter from the night's cold and day's heat. But my disappointment stemmed from the fact that I had been in this town before. I knew it to be deserted. This was the town where Nicholas D. Wolf wood lost his life. This was the town I buried my best friend.

I felt extra weight fall onto my limbs as they seemed to drag, reluctant to travel into a town with such a horrible memory. I see the monument where Knives' name was written in blood and where I had dotted the eye with a bullet. I turn to see the steeple of the church where I had found Wolfwood's body resting against his Cross Punisher, a single cigarette burning where he had kneeled, blood under him like a crimson shadow.

I had to carry my best friend to a bed in the town, the same bed he and Millie had shared the night before. I left him there and walked off, not even looking at the poor girl who cried her soul out at the loss of her love. I walked away to think, to be away, and to think about what I had to do to Knives to make him stop taking lives.

I did not return for many hours. When I entered the room where I had placed Wolfwood's body, I found him cleaned and fresh clothes from his bag on his still form. I stared at him in shock and was wondering who had cleaned him up, when short girl came in. She was carrying a tarp she had found in town to roll his body in so we could bury him.

She told me to say my goodbyes now, because she and Millie had to agree to place him in the ground soon. She told me that the big girl was digging Wolfwood's grave now and that they both had already said their goodbyes. I stared at her in awe. Never had I seen a person so strong and it was then I realized I loved her.

She left me in less than a minute, leaving the tarp on a nearby table and she asked me to come and get her as soon as I finished. I nodded my answer even though she did not see. She closed the door behind her.

My attention went to my dead best friend. I did not know what to say. In my long lifetime I had laid many friends to rest, but never could I not think of anything to say. So, I just stood there for several minutes, before deciding to finish preparing Wolfwood for burial.

I walked to the table and placed the tarp on the floor and spread it open. After I was satisfied with the layout, I went to the bed and stared down at my friend for a moment, tears stinging my eyes but none fell. I slowly slid my arms under him and lifted the limp body not minding the dead weight. In fact, I did not notice the weight at all. To me he felt as light as feather as I carried him to the tarp and placed him on top of the surface. I wrapped him carefully as careful as a mother would wrap her new born baby in a warm blanket.

When I was done, I called Meryl back in and at first she was shocked to see what I had done, but got over it quickly. I asked her if Millie was done digging and she nodded, saying yes. I nodded as well and told her to tell Millie to prepare for the burial and asked Meryl to leave door opened. Again she nodded before leaving.

Once again I was alone with my best friend and again I could not think of anything to say. So, I lifted his body silently. This time I felt the dead weight as I carried him from the room and out the building to the grave. To my surprise, Millie had even made a headstone and when I stared at her in shock, her body was shaking with grief and noticed her hands were bleeding from her hard work. She must have not allowed Meryl to patch her up. I guessed she wanted to feel something other than sorrow.

Without looking at the wrapped body in my arms, I carefully lowered it into the grave. Millie sniffled and Meryl held her arm for comfort. We did not say a word as Millie stepped up to the grave. She retrieved a knife from her back pocket and brought it up to her hair. She cut off about an inch and dropped the light brown strands into the hole.

This was a normal ritual for Gunsmoke. Flowers were rare so people gave a piece of themselves when a loved one died. In a way, this was sadder than the old Earth tradition of placing flowers in a loved one's grave. This fairly new tradition was like burying yourself. It was like you died with the person you loved.

It was after Millie made offering that Meryl said the whole "ashes to ashes" thing and again I was surprised by the short girl. She knew the whole thing. Not many average people knew it. The short girl never stopped amazing me.

When she was done, Meryl asked me to bury Wolfwood's body with the sand and dirt. Millie said she would do it, but Meryl insisted that I should. She wanted Millie to get some sleep.

I nodded in agreement and picked up the shovel. I quickly but gravely scooped up the dirt and tossed it into the grave. I heard Millie give a choked sob as she watched me bury her lover. Meryl pulled her away whispering soothing words to the big girl and I continued with my work.

I remembered that I did not cry then and I did not cry when I was finished. I just stood over Wolfwood's grave. I stood there for hours before a turned and walked into the building the girls were occupying. It was then that I told Meryl everything about me. It was there I told her goodbye for the first time.

Now, I find myself back here and once again I was standing in front of Wolfwood's grave. This time I found the words and the tears as I read…

"Here lies Nicholas D. Wolfwood, a great man with a big heart."

I smiled sadly at the stone. Millie always had a simple way of saying things.

"You shouldn't have died." I told him. "You should've asked for help. I'm sure the girls would have been able to patch you up. Your wounds weren't that bad."

I choked on my tears knowing what I had just said was true. His injury was bad, but he would not have died from them if he was able to get them treated.

"If only you didn't walk to that church and forced yourself to bleed out," I shouted at the grave. "I know you didn't want to die. You had so much to live for, but you just had to go and be dramatic."

Looked up at the sky and closed my eyes, tears falling violently down my cheeks.

"I know you didn't give up, I just know you didn't"

Even though I said it, I did not believe myself. But I had a feeling that it was true. I had a feeling that Wolfwood really did not want to die. I believe that he believed that his injuries were worse than they were. I believe that he believed that he was going to die no matter what.

"Dammit," I said. "I wish I could have saved you."

I look back down at the grave.

"How could you have left us alone?"

With that whispered question I turned to find shelter and a place to sleep.

The next morning I walked back to the grave and buried one of the guns from his punisher, a earring I had stolen from Meryl, and a piece of my red duster.

"There," I said. "Now you have a piece of all of us."

A tear fell to the dry ground as a stood and smiled sadly at the headstone.

"Goodbye dear friend," I said solemnly. "May your next life bring you the joy you deserved in this one."

With those words I gathered my things and walked from that abandoned town to the town where I last saw the girls. I was hoping with all hope that they somehow were still there. And if they were not, I was hoping someone would be able to tell me where they went.


	2. Part 2

Part Two

When I got to the town where I last saw the girls, I quickly found out that they had gone. I asked around and found someone, one of Millie's co-workers for the well. He told me that the girls had gotten a letter from Bernardelli. The letter had instructed that they returned to headquarters. It said that since Vash the Stampede had dropped off the radar, they had no need to be out on the field.

I sighed at the news. Well, at least I knew where they were alive when they left this small little town.

I traveled for 2 months and though I had reached civilization, I was still lonely. I missed Meryl and Millie's company and I was anxious to see them again. So, I tried to travel as fast I could. I took buses, trains, hitchhiked, and rode on a couple of Steam Engines to get to the girls as soon as possible. I just had to make sure that they were okay.

Occasionally, I would stop in a town to ask if they had seen the insurance girls and sometimes I would find out that they had been there and that they were safe and healthy when they had left. This little information gave me great relief.

I was ecstatic when I finally arrived in December and began my search for the girls. Well, not both, mostly Meryl. I knew if I found her I would find Millie, so I was too worried about Big Girl. Anyway, to my great amazement, many people knew Meryl Stryfe and were willing to help me find my Short Girl, especially when I explained that we were old friends and that she was dear to me.

It took me nearly two days to find someone who knew what apartment building she lived in and it took me half a day to get there. I was not going to see Meryl while dirty. So, I found a public bath and cleaned up and changed into some black slacks, a pale yellow shirt, and some brown shows. I wanted to look my best. Instead of doing my hair up in my trademark style, I allowed it to flop. It was a style I had adopted since I left Knives. I knew some people would have been able to recognize me if I put it up. With a bounty still on my head I did not want to cause any trouble that would have slowed my travels down and get people hurt.

Once satisfied with my look, I went to Meryl's building and met her landlord. I asked him what floor Meryl lived on and he not only told me the floor, he also told me the number. He was happy to see that a gentleman caller was visiting her. He thought that a young woman like Meryl deserved to love someone in her life and have someone love her in return. I blushed and laughed uncomfortably as I gave him my thanks before walking up to the fourth floor and up to door 5D.

I knocked on the door and to my dismay, no one answered. I assumed that Meryl was at work. I remembered that she liked to work and took pride in her job and did it well. Not many people could track me the way her and Millie had.

It was late in the afternoon, nearly evening and I figured she would be home soon. I decided to wait for her. I leaned against the wall next to her door. As I waited, I began to think. I wondered if Meryl would be happy to see me. Would she hug me or hit me? Would she was to remain my friend? Would she want to be more than friends? Could she love me?

I was brought from my thoughts by light footsteps coming from the stairs. I stared in that direction to see Meryl appear. She hung her head low as she approached. When she noticed my presence, she looked up slowly from my shoes to my head.

"Vash!" she exclaimed as saw my face.

It was not long before we were embracing and for once in a long time I felt at home.

END of I Will Come to You

TBC in Thinking of You


End file.
